UFC 111 prelim recap: Diaz overwhelms Markham; Almeida stops Brown

After his performance on the preliminary card of Saturday night’s UFC
111 event at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Diaz can now add
“any weight class” to his take-on-all-comers attitude.

Diaz made the leap from the 155-pound division all the way up to middleweight, albeit on a slight technicality, and the Stockton, Calif., native delivered one of the most impressive performances of his career in the featured bout of the evening’s two-fight Spike TV broadcast.

Facing vaunted striker Rory Markham – who normally fights as a welterweight but came in at an embarrassing 177 pounds at Friday’s weigh-ins – a visibly smaller Diaz stood strong in the face of the challenge. Avoiding Markham’s powerful punches and flashy high kicks, Diaz answered with the flurries of shots that have become the hallmark of both fighting Diaz brothers.

Markham began to wilt under the pressure, and a knee in the clinch saw the fighter fall to the floor.

Diaz pounced on his fallen foe and moved swiftly to the back. With one hook in, Diaz began looking to soften up his opponent for the finish. Markham defended the choke well, but Diaz simply elected to finish the fight with his hands. The strikes flowed freely, and the fight was halted with Markham simply turtling under the attack.

The end came at the 2:47 mark of the first round.

Diaz (12-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who was just 1-3 in his previous four fights, earns an impressive win with the performance. While Diaz has said his 170-pound fighting weight might not be permanent, a few similar outings might sway his opinion. Meanwhile, Markham (16-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) still has not fought to a decision in 22 career fights.

While longtime veteran Ricardo Almeida was once considered among the best middleweight fighters in the world, the evening’s first Spike TV-broadcast saw “Big Dog” in his first try at welterweight success. Almeida wasn’t given a free pass, as scrappy banger Matt Brown came well-prepared for the test.

Almeida looked for the takedown early and often in the opening round, but Brown did a solid job of stymying the attack. On the rare occasions Almeida did work the fight to the floor, Brown expertly wall-walked his way back to his feet. Unfortunately for Brown, he simply never found a way to transition into his own offensive strategy.

In the second round, Almeida was able to again work the fight to the floor, but this time Brown would not escape.

Almeida opened a gash near Brown’s left eye on the way to the floor, and once there, he moved quickly to mount. Brown tried to scramble away, but Almeida transitioned to the back, locked in a body triangle to hold the position, and then secured the fight-ending rear-naked choke at the 3:30 mark of the frame.

“The (weight) cut was hell, but this is my house, and this is my home,” Almeida said after the fight. “No one was going to come in here and beat me.”

After losing a 2008 split-decision to Patrick Cote, Almeida (12-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) now has three-straight wins in the UFC. Meanwhile, Brown (11-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) loses for just the second time in the octagon and sees a three-fight win streak snapped.

While Polish slugger Tomasz Drwal earned his most recent UFC win by submission, his preliminary card matchup with Brazilian Rousimar Palhares appeared to be a traditional “striker vs. grappler” affair.

It was.

After Drwal missed a front kick and slipped to his butt, Palhares instantly pounced. “Toquinho” immediately locked in a deep heel hook, and Drwal was forced to tap immediately while in obvious pain.

Light heavyweights Jared Hamman and Rodney Wallace both entered UFC 111 searching for their first victory in the organization. Both showed intense desire for the result in what was an early “Fight of the Night” candidate.

Wallace opened up on fire with a few early takedowns and a several powerful punches. But just as it appeared Wallace would cruised through the first round by dominating positioning, Hamman landed a devastating head kick that changed the flow of momentum.

Wallace started the second frame of fight in similar fashion, and Hamman was forced to work from the floor. But when Wallace looked for a triangle choke as his opponent looked to work back to his feet, Hamman used the scramble to gain top position. From there, Hamman opened up with a series of devastating elbows that earned him the round.

Both fighters looked fresh heading into the final frame, and the efforts remained strong from each competitor.

After some early striking from both fighters, it was Hamman who looked for the takedown and set up in top position. Wallace again looked for a triangle choke and a kimura from the bottom, but Hamman maintained position and delivered enough damage to secure the result. Hamman took the fight 30-27 on all three judges’ cards, but the final score didn’t accurately reflect the tight nature of the back-and-forth action.

“It was a great fight,” Hamman said after the bout. “Holy smokes. … My brother used to beat the piss out of me. He was in my corner and trained me well.”

After losing his November UFC debut in just 41 seconds, Hamman (12-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) looked impressive in victory, especially after surviving the early adversity. Meanwhile, Wallace (9-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has been competitive in his two UFC contests but will likely be released after the first two losses of his MMA career.

Soto disqualified in UFC debut

New Jersey native Greg Soto undoubtedly hoped to make his first UFC performance memorable. He succeeded, though his opponent, fellow welterweight Matthew Riddle, might have wished he’d done so in a different way.

Riddle dominated the early going, and Soto was rocked in the opening frame after absorbing damage in the Thai clinch. Riddle attacked strongly in the second, as well, and Soto absorbed several blows while working from the guard. As the third round opened, Soto was in desperate need of a finish.

Worked to his back once again, Soto resorted to an illegal upkick to a kneeling Riddle’s chin that left “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ veteran dazed on the canvas. A point was immediately deducted from Soto, but it became quickly apparent that Riddle would not be able to shake off the massive blow. As such, Riddle was awarded the rarely seen disqualification victory.

“The doctor was talking to me,” Riddle said after the bout. “He asked me where I was, and I said ‘in a cage.’ At that point, I thought the fight was over, and when they went to restart the fight, my corner didn’t want me to continue.

“I didn’t really know what was going on after the kick.”

Riddle (4-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) bounces back from his UFC 105 loss to Nick Osipczak in less-than-desirable fashion, though his performance was impressive up through the odd ending. Meanwhile, Soto (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who stepped in as a late replacement for Ricardo Funch, might find himself needing a few more wins before he fights again on the sport’s biggest stage.

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